Currently, the termination of individual cables to junction boxes and outlet boxes requires the use of an electrician or skilled personnel. The cables are generally fed into the boxes, stripped and terminated using standard termination techniques. This technique is used when terminating a power line or when providing a connection between boxes. This process is labor intensive, particularly in harsh environments in which the boxes must be sealed against moisture and the like. Such sealed connection often requires multi-piece devices in which a portion must be dismantled to provide proper connection and sealing when reassembled.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,068 to Law discloses a sealed connector that accepts a non-metallic conduit that is grasped by fingers on a clip grasping above an annular ring on a ferrule. To fit the conduit into the sealed connector, the installer must insert the conduit into the fitting, and then tighten a compression nut with a hand tool such as a wrench to close the fingers on the clip and thereby achieve a sealed fit. The leading end of the fitting is threaded and must be inserted into the knock-out of a panel or box, a nut is screwed onto the threaded end, and then a hand tool is typically used to secure the fitting to the panel or box. A hand tool therefore is typically employed to achieve a secure sealed connection on both the trailing end of the fitting, between the conduit and the fitting, and on the leading end of the fitting, between the fitting and the panel or box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,072 discloses a fitting that requires minimal torque on a gland nut to secure the conduit to the trailing end of the fitting. The gland nut must be removed from the connector body and then is inserted over an electrical conduit with the outer surface of the conduit being received through the centrally located bore of the gland nut. The conduit is then pushed onto a ferrule. Upon tightening of the gland nut on the connector body, the gland nut engages resilient fingers with minimal friction loss, thereby enhancing hand tightening or minimizing the torque required with a tightening tool. The leading end of the fitting is typically threaded and requires the use of a nut and an O-ring to secure the fitting to the panel and achieve a sealed connection.
While these and other known connectors allow for providing a sealed connection between the conduit and the panels, these known connectors illustrate the difficulty of terminating the cable to the boxes, particularly in environments in which sealing is required. It would, therefore, be beneficial to provide for an electrical system which is preassembled and modular and which uses connectors attached to the cables and the boxes which allow for a quick, simple connection and which provide both sealing and stability in harsh environments.
While a number of quick connect connectors are known, these connectors are not used to provide a modular distribution system. One such connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,119. A circular connector is described for a plug-type connection to a mating connector which uses complementary locking means that are engaged and disengaged by rotation. Helical locking grooves are provided which have a bayonet detent space extending in an axial direction and an adjacent detent space extending in the peripheral direction. The detent space is defined by limiting means. Complementary noses on the mating connector are movable by rotation along the grooves into the detent spaces to lock the connectors.
However, although sealed connectors and locking connectors are known in the prior art, it would be beneficial to provide a system of connecting cable and conduit in a manner which allows for the system to be modular. In so doing, it would be beneficial to have a sealed and secure system in which the conduit is terminated to connectors which can be connected to mating connectors using quick connect and disconnect technology, thereby allowing the modular system to be customized in the field without the need for electricians.